Tag: 300te

A little over a month ago Craig looked at a nice 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300TE 4Matic. Today’s vehicle is another 1991 300TE 4Matic, although this one has a little different backstory. This Ice Blue Metallic W124 estate for sale in Central Pennsylvania is actually a Japanese market car that made its way to Canada before heading to Pennsylvania. This means it has some cool options and a slightly different look than what you are used to seeing. Now before you get too excited, there are some things about this specific 300TE that I’m not too crazy about. Let me explain.

This beautiful Mercedes 300TE 4Matic has been a daily driver in Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania since 2014. It is a super rare Mercedes. They are just a great car and is still the car I drive to and from work. I have also driven it long distances without issue. This car’s import VIN is WDB1242901F202795.

It is in very good condition on both the inside and outside and has never been in a wreck of any sort. There are 3 noticeable spots from rusting and they are ALL shown in the pictures: Under front driver’s side headlight and again behind the taillight on same side, and a small rust spot on back door. Overall, the body shows little wear for a 1991. The paint is in very good condition. A new clear coat was done in 2013. There are no dents in the car and there are few, if any, noticeable dings. The interior needs a good, professional cleaning and we will do that before delivery. This interior is so far superior to the leather they used to put into these cars.

The W124 platform E-class is an unstoppable tank. So you’d think that the addition of an all-wheel drive option would make an excellent car even better. Not so fast. The “4Matic” AWD system offered on the W124 was complex. Using numerous electronic sensors to control the locking central and rear differentials, the automatic system was capable of splitting torque between the front and back axles as required: 100% to the back, 35/65 front/rear, or 50/50 front/rear. When performing properly, this made the W124 a very competent car in inclement weather. However, the complexity of the system meant that if and when it broke, repair costs could quickly become astronomical. For that reason, W124 enthusiasts tend to pass over the 4Matic, regarding it as a rare example of Mercedes’s over-engineering becoming a liability.

Recently I took a look at an E39 Touring M-Sport, explaining how I’d finally come to see the appeal of the load lugging variants of my favorite German sedans. I couldn’t possibly leave things there without taking a look at the W124 estate. There’s one parked near where I live that proudly displays Mercedes “high mileage” award emblems in its grille. I’m not surprised. Practical and durable, the W124 possesses the kind of old school Mercedes build quality that leads many of their original owners to hang onto them for as long as possible.

I daily drive an E34 525i. I have to admit that while I like the BMW, I don’t love it. What I mean is: I haven’t developed the kind of visceral emotional attachment to it that I shared with my previous car, a 2.6 190E. There’s just something missing, and lately I’ve been thinking about getting back into an older Benz. It would have to be comfortable, safe, have a passenger airbag (a not unreasonable request from my wife), get fair gas mileage (ruling out V8s, sadly) and have that legendary Mercedes build quality that makes the doors close with a reassuring “thunk.” A W124 keeps coming to the top of my list. We went camping last weekend and spent a gorgeous few days out in the far western reaches of Maryland. While the E34 served us well, when I got home I kept thinking about how cool it would have been to have had a Mercedes wagon on the trip.

If you want a reliable, low-key and classy way to ferry around a bunch of people and their stuff, there are few options out there better than the W124 estate. You get all the virtues of the W124 sedan – impeccable 80’s era Mercedes build quality, classic styling and an over-engineered chassis offering good levels of safety and comfort – with the extra cargo space and versatility of a longroof. And since these cars were often bought new by wealthy, practically minded people, who saw fit to invest in them rather than sell them on, it’s still possible to find mint condition examples that have been meticulously maintained by their former owners. This low-mileage 300TE appears to be such a car.

The W124 Mercedes-Benz Estate is a favorite around this site and personally one of my favorite cars that were ”honest”. They had the enormous task of following the legendary W123 Estates and giving Mercedes wagon buyers just a little more. It had to have the same quality of the W123 but be a little faster, a little more comfortable, hold a little more and live up to the standard that Mercedes was known at the time. Without saying, the W123 Estate is still king in the used Mercedes wagon market, but if you don’t want to spend a bunch of money on a car that is over 30 years-old at it’s youngest version, the W124 300TE is still a great buy. This example on the beaches of New Jersey can still give you everything you want from a Mercedes-Benz Estate.

We’re in the midst of planning another Wagon Week here at GCFSB, but until then, let’s take a look at one of our favorite 5-doors, the Mercedes-Benz W124 estate. Long before SUVs like the ML, GL and GLK roamed the earth, Mercedes’ mainstream utility vehicle was their mid-sized estate vehicle. While a few coach builders produced estate variants after World War II, Mercedes’ first in-house effort was the W123 estate of the late 1970s. This car has become the darling of the biodiesel set, attracting folks looking for a bit of panache with their free motoring. The W124 estate did an excellent job of picking up where the W123 left off, combining the classic hallmarks of Mercedes-Benz style with a good balance of luxury, utility and durability that kept customers coming back to the showrooms. This W124 estate for sale in Florida has escaped the ravages of hard duty, showing just under 80,000 miles on the odometer.

Last week around this time, I wrote up a 850 horsepower Brabus-modified E63 Estate. In the realm of nutty cars, it would be certainly barred from coming near any schools for fear of anaphylaxis of the entire student body. It was also the best part of a third of a million dollars, more money than most of America will ever dream of having at one time and even in New England, an amount that would get you a nice home. But in that post, our reader Craig posted a link to a much more affordable option; a W124 300TE Estate modified by Brabus for sale in Germany. Does it scratch the itch or do you need an EpiPen?

After Audi turned the automotive world on its ear in the early 1980s with Quattro four-wheel drive, other automakers were quick to cash in on the craze. Mercedes-Benz tested the waters with four-wheel drive in passenger cars by way of their 4Matic system. Introduced in the W124 E class sedan and estate, it gave buyers in climates with less than favorable weather the option of using these cruisers year round. You don’t see a lot of these early 4Matics around these days, making this black 300TE for sale in Michigan a neat find.

The W124 E class is revered for being one of the last true Mercedes-Benzes before the bean counters seized the day and started to build cars to a price. It’s curious, then, to think that longtime Mercedes owners trembled when the W123 was replaced by this car. They would be in good hands over the next decade, as first generation E class sedans are still being pressed into service by private owners and taxi drivers the world over. This clean 300TE for sale in Massachusetts is originally a California car. With mileage at just over 100,000, it’s poised to provide the new owner with many more miles of service.

There’s not a lot to go on here from the reader’s description, but from the clear headlamp bezels to seats that look as if they’ve never been sat in, this is one impressive 300TE. With its relocation to New England, the only thing that might be more attractive is if it was equipped with 4Matic all-wheel drive. The asking price of $10,000 is at the high end for a W124 estate, as these cars still lag a bit behind the W123 in terms of value. If this 300TE is as solid as it appears and could be had for around the $8,000 to $8,500 mark, it would be a decent value for someone wanting a durable, practical classic.

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